Tomorrow’s World Today® Podcast
It all starts with one idea. Visit the Worlds of Inspiration, Creation, Innovation, and Production as we explore the topics shaping tomorrow’s world. Find us wherever you listen to podcasts.
Tomorrow’s World Today® Podcast
Beyond the Shelf: Funko’s Vision for Future Collectibles
What powers a global fandom machine? We sat down with Funko’s Chief Product Officer, Husnal Shah, to trace the line from a week‑one Disney sellout to 900 licenses and a milestone few toy companies reach in decades. We break down the three Cs—Culture, Creativity, Commerce—that decide which figures get made, why certain iconic moments jump off the shelf, and how a recognizable form can still surprise you when it captures the perfect story beat. 🪀
Husnal opens the door to Funko’s incubation lab, where blue‑sky ideas meet real‑time signals from sales, marketing, and social listening. You'll hear how concepts progress from a creative showcase to 3D prints, then to tooling and production—all while the launch story and marketing plan develop in parallel.
We get into the rise of Pop Yourself, the personalized experience that turns collectors into characters, and why gifting for birthdays, weddings, and holidays has turned customization into a growth engine. There's also a frank look at resilience, including diversified sourcing across Asia, navigating geopolitical and pandemic difficulties, and reaching new audiences as kids shift earlier to gaming, YouTube, and social platforms. 🎮
Looking forward, we explore how AR and digital layers can elevate discovery and display, including virtual try-ons, interactive unboxings, and community moments that bridge physical and digital shelves. We also talk geo expansion, and why Funko organizes teams by fandom to keep authenticity high in anime, music, film, and gaming. For anyone interested in product strategy, licensing, collectibles, or the business of culture, this conversation maps how a beloved form factory stays fresh and how the next billion could be even more personal. 🧸
If you enjoyed this conversation, follow the show, share it with a friend who collects, or leave a quick review—what topic should we "pop" next?
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Hello everybody and welcome to another edition of Tomorrow's World Today. And today we have a special guest. Her name is Hunal Schon, and she's from the Funco Corporation. Welcome.
SPEAKER_03:Thank you. Glad to be here.
SPEAKER_01:Well, I just heard a little uh whisper that there was a big landmark uh number that you uh that you guys went through at Funco.
SPEAKER_03:Yes, we surpassed one billion unit mark for Funko Pops sold in July of this year.
SPEAKER_01:Oh my goodness.
SPEAKER_03:And we have done that in 15 years, which is the fastest compared to any other toy company.
SPEAKER_01:So you've sold a billion Funco pops in 15 years? Correct. Congratulations. Thank you. That's very exciting. Yeah. I think our audience would love to hear more about Funko and and more about you or yourself as well.
SPEAKER_02:Sure.
SPEAKER_01:So can you talk to us a little bit about, you know, 15 years ago, what was going on that created this phenomenon?
SPEAKER_03:Fifteen years ago, our CEO, the then CEO, came up with the iconic form factor in in its stylized form and brought it to me at the Walt Disney Company when he was trying to expand the format. We looked at it on the other side of the table and we brought it into the Disney stores, the vertical channels of the business. It sold out in a week. And from there on, the rest is history. Disney gave him the license, they got other licenses, and today we have about 900 different licenses. And we basically sell this format to the world at large. Globally, we are exporting them, we are distributing to different pop markets within Asia as well as in the UAE and as well as AMEA.
SPEAKER_01:Just curious about, you know, why do you think it has become a phenomenon? What's the attraction that pulls so many people to the pops?
SPEAKER_03:I think this was a miracle product in itself, because if you look at the form itself, it's with the big head, with the big eyes, and the high-end collectible nature of it, the materials that we use uh really lend itself to being recognizable as well as there's an affinity that that our fans have towards it. So I feel like that's the reason why it's become so big. Also, we've noticed that we have been able to adapt any sorts of uh characters and and personalities on this form very easily. And this is a collaboration that we've had with all of our licensers to know to be able to do that. So I think that's the reason why it's still going after 15 years and after selling one billion versions of it.
SPEAKER_01:It's f it's a great story. You mentioned that you used to work at Disney. I did. Could you tell our audience a little more about your story? I mean my story. Yes, I mean because you're what's referred to as a chief product officer. Is that correct?
SPEAKER_03:Correct. So I grew up in India. I was born and raised there. I after I completed my master's, I came to the United States. This was about 23 years ago. And from there on, my first foray into a world of career was in toys. So I started with a small toy company, ground zero, very educational and foundational for me to understanding the product as well as the industry. And then from there I said, let me try something else. I was really young. And so I went into banking and then went into construction, didn't quite like it, and moved back into consumer products with the children's place, and then quickly transitioned to the Walt Disney Company. This was in 2006. So it's been 16 or so years with the Walt Disney Company, and those years were very formative for me in understanding the entirety of the hard lines business, not just toys. And then about four years ago, I came to Funko. I was invited and I made the move. And ever since being with Funko, I'm excited. I look forward to the future of Funko. There's so much potential to unleash. We are limited by our own bandwidth, but creativity is oozing from every angle.
SPEAKER_01:Wow, that's a great transition because I was going to ask you today about, you know, the the art of coming up with ideas, right? And how they are shaped into a creative thought and then put into reality one day. Can you talk a little bit? I mean, I know you can't talk about the secret insides of how things work, but what could you share with our audience about why the art of creativity and ideas is so exciting?
SPEAKER_03:So I think Funko is the ultimate expression of fandom, right? And so what drives creativity within Funko is our fans across the globe. Whether they are into anime or music or, you know, entertainment, movies, films, gaming, we create something for everyone out there. And so I feel that is the secret source of Funko because there's so much content out there. For us to pick and choose the right type of content to really bring to life means that that character and or personality or story needs to have cultural relevance because we are a pop culture company, right? And have a fan following. So that is what is exciting and the secret source of how Funko makes products and our belief in how products come to life.
SPEAKER_01:And you have a couple different ways to do it. Like you can custom up your own pop, but you also decide on certain pops that you want to bring to market and mass produce, right? Right. Correct. So how does how do you make a decision when it like when is it time to mass produce a pop?
SPEAKER_03:So I look at it in two ways. One is when you when you can customize or personalize a pop for yourself. So we came up with this product line, which was in a couple of years ago. We were hearing from our fans that they want to be part of the story. They obviously want to collect famous people and display them on their shelves, but they also want to be part of the story. So we came up with Pop Yourself as a product line that launched two years ago. And it's done so well for us, where a collector can actually go and pop themselves via our e-comm channels and create one-of-one bespoke versions of themselves to their interests as well as their likeness. And then the next iteration of it is to your point, how do we mass produce something? So mass-producing something, we we really have three Cs we go by culture, creativity, as well as commerce, right? So if that format or that genre fits in the three C's, it will be mass-produced. So for example, because we are a pop culture company, cultural relevance really matters to us. It means that that figure has a cultural impact and is relevant today or was relevant or somebody's reliving the nostalgic story from the past. And so that is important. And then every figure we create grows through a creative lens in that we have to ensure that we're bringing the good figure's most iconic moment or story or personality to life in a tangible form.
SPEAKER_02:I see.
SPEAKER_03:So creativity is key. And then commercials. Obviously, it has to, you know, be a brand deposit to the company or bring in revenue. So those are the three three C's that we filter everything, every decision through to ensure that we can mass produce.
SPEAKER_01:It's wonderful. So you've you've basically also by studying your audience and trying to understand that they're well, they want to be involved with with your creations, right? Right. So when they're when they pop themselves, it helps them to I guess that's like a trend right now in in online, too.
SPEAKER_03:It's it's very gifting as well. So either you are able to pop yourself and display yourself, or it's we've noticed that our customers and our fans are really doing it from a gifting lens. So to commemorate a birthday or or a wedding or an anniversary graduation or seasonal for Valentine's or Halloween or the holidays as gifts for their loved ones or their friends and families. So there's one aspect where they'll pop themselves, but another they're popping their loved one in their favorite team's jersey. Or or or, you know, because we have those licensing partnerships too within pop yourself. If you're a Harry Potter fan, you can pop yourself as a Harry Potter character and give it as a gift to a friend. So we have all of that. So the future of personalization is massive. And I can't tell you everything, but I can tell you we have something brewing in the pipeline for next year, which we'll be announcing soon in Q2.
SPEAKER_01:Ah, well, can you give us even a little hint?
SPEAKER_03:Sorry.
SPEAKER_02:How do I pick it up from there?
SPEAKER_01:Okay, um, let's see here. So what do you see as some of the bigger challenges? As Funco is leapfrogging past a billion units sold. Where do you see the future going?
SPEAKER_03:From a challenge standpoint, there is this twofold. One is just the global volatility in the supply chain and the disruptions caused, either due to the pandemic as we just had COVID or due to, you know, uh geopolitical reasons. Funco has a sourcing team that has really diversified our source country of distribution such that we are in more than one country than across Asia to really optimize our supply chain and really position our product such that such disruptions don't cause us issues. So we've made the supply chain a lot more resilient than what it what it was. So we've taken care of that issue. On the other hand, you we do have new new consumer segments that continue to come into our space. How do we attract that audience into the fun covers? We call it the fun covers.
SPEAKER_02:Yes.
SPEAKER_03:Right? And so coming up with the new newest innovations, with the new product lines, you know, really thinking through expansion uh objectives is what we are into. And that all of this is really going to help mitigate the risks and the challenges that we see in the future.
SPEAKER_01:That makes sense. So as a chief product officer, you're looking at everything from raw material supplies to logistics to making sure that whatever's getting popped, you can supply the marketplace at all times, right?
SPEAKER_03:Correct. So that's one aspect. So literally within the product umbrella, we have a creative design and development sourcing, uh logistics, merchandising, product strategy sits within product. So it's anything from the moment you can dream of a product to materializing it and shipping it to our end customer is the product team.
SPEAKER_01:I see.
SPEAKER_03:So there's 12 different functions that sit within the team.
SPEAKER_01:When you look at them, you see like, oh, these toys are so much fun, but there's really a lot going on by the team.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, there's a lot going on. I'm not like Tom Hanks from big.
SPEAKER_01:Right, right.
SPEAKER_03:There's a lot going on behind the scenes. It is a challenging environment, and but it's a lot of fun as well. And it's very fulfilling.
SPEAKER_01:So talk to us a little bit about the journey of how an idea comes to life in your company and then eventually gets prototyped and then it goes to a committee where they're deciding does it meet these three C's. Yeah. Can you talk to us a little bit about the journey?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, so we have a thing that's called the incubation lab, right? Where our creative teams get together and they are spitballing and brainstorming blue sky ideas, right? That's one aspect of creativity. And they come up with the best products. And like I said, we are limited by time and our own bandwidth to really bring everything to life. Yes. But that's one aspect of it. And the other aspect is we have, you know, tested and really oiled the machine of innovation all the way through to commercialization. And it's not a linear process, it's a literally a loop that that we continuously get feedback from our sales teams, our marketing teams, social listening, what our fans are talking about, you know, what's trending out there from our licenses and the space we want to be in, right? That information is taken and iterated upon, as well as the blue sky ideation that I just talked about earlier. From there comes out the best of kind products, right? Whether it's IPs that we want to be in, it's genres we want to be in, it's it's basically product lines we want to bring to market. So once these ideas are a little more solidified and baked via the incubation lab, there's a pitch that occurs. It's called the creative showcase.
SPEAKER_02:Okay.
SPEAKER_03:And it's really thought through because it's not just blue sky. We obviously we want to bring products to market that'll actually be commercial in the market and not just great products. The ideas are great, right? But that's only 10% of the battle one.
SPEAKER_02:Right, right.
SPEAKER_03:Once these ideas are pitched to our sales teams and our buyers globally, they form the part of the assortment. And then we start to develop these ideas and really do go into sampling and and you know, 3D printing, et cetera, with our third-party factory base as well as our licenses. And then we come to a place where we agree on the final model, which then goes into tooling and then into production and then out.
SPEAKER_01:Sounds like a yeah, I'm very familiar with research and development. That sounds like an ecosystem, an innovation ecosystem, right? 100%. So you're developing that concept to a point where you could pitch it to your sales department to figure out whether or not because if you don't get if you don't get in alignment with your sales department, you're not going to be able to.
SPEAKER_03:They have to buy in as much as you bought in.
SPEAKER_01:Yes.
SPEAKER_03:To really be able to. And then I also believe there's a there's an element to a product where a product is a product. Until you don't tell the story of the product and then you're not marketing it right, it's not going anywhere. So with the sales and the marketing teams and our branding teams, we really ensure when I talk about commercialization, the process of innovation to commercialization, it starts together. So while you're formulating a product, you're also this part of the house is coming in and talking about how will we market it? What is the virality going to look like of this product? And then there's a there's a back and forth and it reiteration and still we land on the final look and feel of the product.
SPEAKER_01:Right. That makes sense. So let's project into the future, into tomorrow's world. And tell us what you see happening in the you can relate it to how where Funco is going in the future or you know how it ties to the toy industry as a whole.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Can you can you walk us through that future, what you see happening?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. So the toy industry is evolving massively, right? We also know that kids are falling out of toys mu at a much younger age and going into, you know, gaming. They are on their iPads and on social media. YouTube is a big influx of preteens and and gen alpha, right? So we study all these trends that are happening, whether it's generational or it's content-based, or a new fandom, the rise of a new fandom and a fall of another fandom. So the team, our merchandising team, is really in tune watching these trends. Funco's future lies in really being able to innovate and amplify our digital experiences, right? Using AR tools and creative tools, as well as expanding globally in in markets where pop culture and the pop market is uh expanding. Philippines is one of those markets where we just opened a licensing store and we continue to expand our licensing store footprints across the globe. So that's where I see the future for Funco. While innovation is key and product ideation is key, expansion happens through digital experience, geo expansion, as well as getting into an AR space and really being able to talk to our fans loud and clear.
SPEAKER_01:That's wonderful. It looks like you your team's really thinking it through.
SPEAKER_03:They absolutely are. We have best in class people, experts in the field, and so I'm really proud of the team. For example, you talked about creativity. The way we set up our teams is the artist that works on anime, for example, knows the in and out of anime. He is into the stories, into the characters, knows what's coming out in the future. So while he's developing and creating those concepts, he can really tell the character emotionally as well as the personalities coming to life in the character. And then it flows through within the entire team. The merchandiser that is doing merchandising it for anime knows everything about anime, and so does the sourcing person as well as the product developer. So the whole team is a unit that breeds and lives anime. And then you're getting the best product out there. So all teams, we have teams built by fandom, and that's how they operate.
SPEAKER_01:Yes, wonderful. So with the future of everything, and just getting a little more background. So have you popped yourself yet?
SPEAKER_03:Multiple times. Yeah. And I plan to do it over and over again. And I'll give one to you too, George.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, thank you. It's it is fun, isn't it?
SPEAKER_03:Yes, it is. It's a lot of fun. And I encourage everyone over here to go pop themselves.
SPEAKER_01:Husnall, thanks for being with us today. Thank you so much for having me. Well, everybody, that's another edition of Tomorrow's World Today. Bye now.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you for listening to this episode of Tomorrow's World Today Podcast. Join us next time as we continue to explore the world today.
